A U.S. client invited me to apply to her job. I was unable to accept the interview because a popup kept appearing (see screenshot). After several tries I was able to accept - but not sure if this is going to be a new issue now??

Yeah, I first thought that the popup is Upwork's wayof shutting out non-US freelancers even when clients want them. But the fact that I was able to accept the interview after several tries makes me think it's a bug. But then that's quite a discriminatory bug ...

As it is I've hardly been getting any decent work since this "US freelancers only" thing came into effect. Then, when I finally get a good invite, Upwork makes me "work" for it

I'm sorry about the inconvenience that this is causing you. I see that you already have a ticket for this concern, and one of our customer support members has updated it to provide further assistance. Thanks!

Yes Joannne, but this is not some secret - it affects all of us. So please do not hide behind "we cannot share this publicly". It is not a private matter it is a serious issue that affects both freelancers and clients.

Hi Joanne, I actually came here to post that a ticket was opened for me without me asking for it ... and the solution proposed by CS included deleting all my browser history, emptying cache, clearing cookies and restarting my computer

This is exactly why I didn't open a ticket myself and posted the issue here. I'm sure another freelancer will eventually run into the same issue, and hopefully then someone will take it a little more seriously.

Thanks Goran, I've sent you a message with the details. If possible, please also clarify the odd phrase in the error ("null exclusive jobs") That wording needs to be changed/corrected if this popup appears to freelancers ...

So this is the infuriating-as-usual response I received from CS on this issue:

"Our technical team has advised that you were requested to verify location because the job post you were invited to was a US only job which the Client set. Our technical team also advised that by design, Clients can invite non-US Freelancers to US only jobs."

As if I didn't already know that -- the real questions are:

Why do I have to verify my location if the client invites me to apply?

Why did the popup eventually disappear and I was later able to accept the interview -- surely this means it was a bug?

If the popup was meant to persist, what good does verifying my location as Mozambique do for a client in the US? I have already gone through the verification process.

If I have to verify my location each time I want to accept an interview for a US-only job, how long will it take? Because that will affect my response time for the job post.

And, finally, are CS representatives bots or simply untrained?

Plus, the ticket was marked as solved. I just cannot understand why Upwork doesn't invest more in its help resources. As we can see from other threads, CS drives away both clients and freelancers from the site.

I`m sorry about the confusion and the bad experience you had with one of our agents. I've already escalated this to our product managers and once we have a confirmation we (Moderators) will post an update here. Thank you.

UPDATE: Just to confirm that this is not by design and all freelancers should be able to accept an invitation without being asked to verify their location. Our engineers are investigating this further and working on resolving it as soon as possible. If anyone else experience the same issue in the mean time please send us (Moderators) a PM. Thank you.